Latest / Beyond Fulfillment Podcast / Finding Opportunity in Complexity: How Arthur Glinkin Built an E-commerce Bookkeeping Niche

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Finding Opportunity in Complexity: How Arthur Glinkin Built an E-commerce Bookkeeping Niche · Beyond Fulfillment Podcast

• 0:04
  I've learned very quickly that, you know, whenever you try to go short, it's not going to happen.
• 0:08
  The the fastest way to growth is the long term way.
• 0:11
  Today we sit down with Arthur Glinkin, the co founder of SMG Bookkeeping, an accounting firm dedicated to helping emerging e commerce brands get their finances right.
• 0:22
  Arthur has carved out a niche in financial management for online businesses by blending hands on expertise in accounting with a true entrepreneurial spirit.
• 0:31
  In our conversation, we dive into the unique challenges and opportunities facing E commerce founders.
• 0:38
  From navigating complex sales tax and inventory tracking to mastering content marketing and building trust through brand transparency.
• 0:47
  You'll hear the real story Behind S&G's launch, the lessons learned from early mistakes, and how Arthur's young age turned out to be an advantage in a rapidly changing industry.
• 0:58
  If you want actionable insights on standing out from the crowd and scaling your business a smart way, this episode is packed with practical advice and inspiring takeaways.
• 1:08
  As always, if you found value from this content, please like and subscribe.
• 1:14
  All right, Arthur Glinken, well beyond.
• 1:20
  Awesome.
• 1:20
  Thank you so much for having me, Dave.
• 1:24
  We appreciate you taking the time to be here.
• 1:27
  So Arthur, you are a co founder of S and G Bookkeeping, which is an accounting firm that specializes specifically in financial management for e commerce companies that are newer, that are under $10 million.
• 1:42
  But you had quite an interesting road to get here before you co founded this company.
• 1:49
  Definitely give our listeners your backstory and how you got here.
• 1:53
  Yeah, for sure.
• 1:54
  Well I've always been pretty entrepreneurial even since I was small.
• 1:58
  I mean I was, I remember me and my buddies, we would go snow plowing when it, when it was winter out in Chicago.
• 2:04
  So a lot of business to be done there.
• 2:07
  Pressure washing, you know, I would just load up the minivan with my pressure washer, go driveway to driveway asking people if they need some help.
• 2:14
  But then I guess my first real business I co founded as well with Daniel, who's my partner.
• 2:19
  But we, we were watching Iman Ghazi.
• 2:23
  I don't know if you've heard of Iman Ghazi, the agency guru, but basically his, his platform was, or I guess his business model was agency outsourcing.
• 2:33
  So you can start your own digital marketing agency and then outsource the work to someone on Upwork or five or one of those platforms where you can just find a va basically.
• 2:42
  And so we tried that.
• 2:44
  We got pretty excited.
• 2:45
  We signed our first client and then very quickly we realized that that was a mistake because I mean I had no Experience with SEO.
• 2:52
  I just thought the guy that we hired would take care of everything.
• 2:55
  So I literally had no idea what he was doing.
• 2:57
  I couldn't check if his work was correct.
• 2:59
  I didn't know if he was working.
• 3:00
  So anytime we would hop on a call with a client, I was completely out of the loop.
• 3:04
  I had no idea what was happening.
• 3:06
  And that's kind of when we decided that, you know, Daniel and I were studying accounting college.
• 3:10
  We've got full time jobs in accounting.
• 3:12
  Why not literally take all that energy and effort that we're putting into our studies and our work and just apply that since we're already entrepreneurial, we want to start our own business, why not just apply that to our
• 3:22
  own business as well?
• 3:23
  So if your business is an E commerce brand, this message is for you.
• 3:28
  Logistics can make or break you.
• 3:31
  If you're tired of being just a number to those big box 3pls, you need to check out our team at Easy DC3PL.
• 3:39
  We're a different kind of partner built specifically for growing brands that ship between 1,000 and 10,000 orders per month.
• 3:47
  We offer warehousing, fulfillment and transportation with a focus on personalized service and flexibility.
• 3:55
  Our central Kentucky location gives you nationwide reach, turning logistics into a competitive advantage.
• 4:01
  So if you're ready to partner with a 3PL that actually gets your brand, visit EasyDC3PL.com I learned that you have.
• 4:10
  To be, especially in the beginning, you have to be in charge of the fulfillment you get to.
• 4:13
  You need to understand your customer and that helps you build your offer and then you can start training people further down the line.
• 4:19
  So that's kind of how we started out.
• 4:23
  Okay, love that.
• 4:24
  Because so, so often right Entrepreneurs, we have this ready fire, aim mentality where you get an idea, you get excited, you go right into action.
• 4:34
  And so often the mistakes are the best source of learning and know like the story you just told, right?
• 4:41
  Big mistake.
• 4:44
  You know and you learn from it, right?
• 4:46
  So you and your partner, you're studying accounting, you have this skill set, you have full time jobs in accounting.
• 4:52
  So it dawned on you, why not just start a business with within our zone of genius, so to speak.
• 4:58
  So you start S and G bookkeeping now you're focusing specifically on the E commerce niche in these newer emerging e commerce brands which what made you focus on.
• 5:11
  On that area?
• 5:13
  Yeah, well the, the reason we focus on that area, I'm not going to lie, it's completely luck because our first ever client that ever came to us so we, we passed our QuickBooks online certification so we got or
• 5:24
  technically our position, our accreditation is like Advanced Pro Advisor.
• 5:28
  So it sounds pretty fancy, but basically once you pass that exam, they have a directory that you can put your name, company and so on.
• 5:36
  And actually our first client found us through that directory and she was an E commerce brand.
• 5:40
  So we looked at the books.
• 5:42
  I mean that was our first time looking at someone's books.
• 5:44
  I mean we've had experience in the past obviously with our accounting knowledge, but actually looking at a client's books inside of QuickBooks Online, that was our first experience.
• 5:53
  And the reason that she came to us was because the previous accountant, I mean he was like 65, he's been in the game for 40 years, so he has way more experience than we do.
• 6:02
  But even Daniel and I, we looked at those books and we're like, no way this guy with 40 years of experience messed up these books that bad.
• 6:08
  So that's when we realized E commerce accounting is not just like your regular service based business accounting.
• 6:14
  It's, it's a completely different ball game because you're dealing with sales tax, inventory tracking, cost of goods sold, tariffs and so on.
• 6:20
  So there's a bunch of different things that you have to deal with.
• 6:23
  And integrating sales channels, that's a whole new thing that you know, especially, I don't want to say he's old, but you have to be a little bit more tech savvy, understand how to connect all these platforms together.
• 6:33
  And that's where we realized that this E commerce niche actually has a very big need that we can fill.
• 6:38
  And that's kind of where we started to focus our energy after that first client.
• 6:41
  So that's what we ended up.
• 6:44
  Wow.
• 6:45
  So another.
• 6:46
  Yeah, it's another great story because again, so you, you, you decide to start the accounting firm within your area of expertise.
• 6:53
  You get started, you pass your certification.
• 6:56
  So now you're able to be listed in this QuickBooks directory.
• 6:59
  So you do that first client happens to be an E commerce company.
• 7:03
  And like you say, you're just starting out, you don't really have a niche, you're still learning.
• 7:08
  And as you get into it, you realize.
• 7:12
  There'S all these complex, there's this part of the market that apparently is underserved and then you look at someone with 40 years of experience and that doing the right.
• 7:25
  It presents an opportunity particularly for younger understand tech, you know, so, and then, so as soon as you did that, you decided E commerce was your niche.
• 7:39
  Yeah.
• 7:40
  And the reason for that is because after working through that first client, Daniel and I Told ourselves if we have to relearn all this for another niche, it's going to be the worst business we ever started because of
• 7:51
  just how complex it is.
• 7:52
  So honestly, it's more, I understand, you know, niches are in, or riches are in the niches.
• 7:57
  Everyone always says that.
• 7:59
  That's part one.
• 7:59
  But number two is if I have to relearn something like that for, I know construction, for example, gets very complicated with job costing and so on.
• 8:06
  So if I have to take that and cram all that extra information about construction, for example, into my brain, I don't even want to do that.
• 8:13
  I'm not going to lie.
• 8:14
  I'd rather just become an expert in the E commerce accounting side of things and, you know, build my brand around that.
• 8:19
  So.
• 8:22
  Yeah, and that's, that's again, excellent point too because as you're in business, not only do you have to take care of your customers, but you have to really be honest with yourself about your bandwidth, your skillset, your ability
• 8:33
  and the ability to scale something.
• 8:34
  So like you said, if you have to re.
• 8:36
  If you have to learn a new industry every time you onboard a client to really operate at that level, like you said, that's.
• 8:43
  It's not scalable and it's not.
• 8:45
  Doesn't sound like very much fun either.
• 8:47
  So you decided to just focus on E commerce.
• 8:51
  So, okay, so that happens and that's going to be your niche.
• 8:57
  And then what, what happened next?
• 8:58
  How did you go about scaling from there?
• 9:02
  So scaling from there.
• 9:03
  I mean, once we kind of realize that E commerce is, you know, that's the niche that we really want to stick with, that's when we kind of decided to really brand ourselves down.
• 9:12
  So if you look at our website, if you look at any of, you know, I'm on TikTok as well, making a couple TikToks.
• 9:18
  So we realized that the hard part with E Commerce, well, there's two, Two main things that we, we recognize is number one is trying to differentiate ourselves from other just regular bookkeepers that, you know, can work with any
• 9:30
  niche.
• 9:31
  Kind of like the bookkeeper that when we first onboarded that, that first client, like he was, he just worked with any niche, right?
• 9:37
  So we wanted to differentiate ourselves because a lot of E commerce owners, they, they see bookkeeping as a necessary expense rather than just an investment in the business.
• 9:47
  And, and of course we want to be seen as an investment.
• 9:50
  We don't want to be seen as, you know, some sort of commodity that you can hire anyone to do it for you because we already saw this dude has 40 years of experience and he still messed up the
• 9:58
  books.
• 9:59
  Right.
• 9:59
  So kind of differentiating ourselves and showing that we understand all the pain points better than you know, a typical unniched bookkeeper that works with any, any industry.
• 10:09
  That's going to be one of the biggest issues that we had.
• 10:12
  And the second was actually targeting the E commerce owners.
• 10:15
  So our main strategy for the marketing right now is actually just making content as well because the targeting is a little bit trickier.
• 10:23
  It's not like a local business where you can just literally just walk into it, you know, bring donuts.
• 10:27
  Me and Daniel actually used to do that before, I mean in the very beginning when we first started and we just wanted clients, we would just go door to door, bring donuts and just pass out our business cards
• 10:36
  to business owners.
• 10:37
  But there's no Google Maps that you can just search up in cold call.
• 10:41
  You have to be very specific about how you look for these E commerce owners.
• 10:44
  And you know, you think it's easy, you just go on their platform and you, you find their, or their Shopify store, Amazon, whatever and you find their contact information but not necessarily always the case because you all, you
• 10:54
  want to know the owner's name, you want to know email address, phone number, that sort of thing.
• 10:57
  So you have to be very picky about how you find these potential clients as well.
• 11:03
  Okay.
• 11:04
  Yeah.
• 11:04
  And look as, as you mentioned and I, I can speak to that from the 3 PL world because we deal with the same thing too where some people see it as just a expense and it becomes commoditized in
• 11:17
  the minds of many people when in reality it becomes an extension of the business and like you said, an investment to where oftentimes people don't really understand the value of a great until they have a bad partner.
• 11:32
  And so like you said with the bookkeeping for E commerce sounds like you're dealing with the same thing to where it's not just an expense but it's truly an investment in having the company be able to grow with
• 11:45
  that clear, that clear financial picture that you're giving them from doing the books.
• 11:50
  Right.
• 11:51
  Is that fair to say?
• 11:53
  Yeah, I think that's right.
• 11:55
  And I guess the plus and minus about the E commerce side of things is it is an investment.
• 12:00
  But that's because of how complicated the E commerce books actually get.
• 12:04
  Like I mentioned, they're a lot more complex than maybe a typical service based business because of all these moving pieces and you kind of have to see that as an opportunity.
• 12:12
  A lot of People don't want to understand how sales tax works.
• 12:15
  They don't want to understand how to track tariffs on all of your inventory costs.
• 12:18
  They don't want to understand how to connect all your sales channels into one centralized platform like QuickBooks Online.
• 12:24
  And I think that, yeah, that's obviously very hard, but that's something that can actually differentiate ourselves because we understand what all this means and how to actually execute this for a client.
• 12:34
  So, yeah, it's, you know, you, it's tough to be seen as a commodity.
• 12:39
  Nobody wants to be seen like that.
• 12:40
  But I think it's how you brand yourself and understanding the client's pain points where you can actually say, and then we kind of do this, actually.
• 12:47
  So our lead magnet, you can say, is a free QuickBooks online audit where we just sit down with the client or prospective client and literally just look at their books and we point out, okay, this is wrong, this
• 12:57
  is wrong, this is wrong.
• 12:58
  You're going to need our help to fix this, for example.
• 13:00
  So that's kind of, you know, bringing extra value to the client ahead of time before you even sign them up.
• 13:06
  I think that's how yourself, obviously you work with E Commerce owners and I work with E Commerce owners.
• 13:11
  So that's how I think businesses in general can different differentiate themselves from their competitors.
• 13:18
  Yeah, and that's such a great point you made earlier is, you know, it's the reason that you can stand out in the opportunity is because it's not easy and there's all these complexities and a lot of times people
• 13:30
  don't want to deal with that.
• 13:31
  And, and really the essence of being an entrepreneur is finding a problem and solving it and then doing that in a way that people pay you for it.
• 13:41
  Right.
• 13:41
  And then repeating and scaling from there.
• 13:43
  But I mean, that's the essence of it is solving problems for others.
• 13:46
  So the fact that even so early in your business, right.
• 13:52
  You realize that there's gold in the fact that this isn't easy and a lot of people have problems with it.
• 13:58
  So there's my opportunity where I can solve these problems.
• 14:02
  That, that's the key to growing this, this business within this niche.
• 14:05
  So, you know, again, I just think that easy to be a good fulfillment partner, which is why there's so many mediocre ones that we see.
• 14:16
  And.
• 14:17
  Right.
• 14:17
  But again, there's the opportunity where you can do an excellent job.
• 14:20
  People see the value in it and that that's what they want.
• 14:25
  And also, let, let's also talk about, because you mentioned too, it's not just so simple to just get the list of e commerce brands and cold call from there where you realized early on that the necessity of content
• 14:38
  marketing.
• 14:39
  So can you just talk about what that's been like for you so early in your business journey as far as having to do the TikToks and the social media and the podcast appearances and all these things that you're
• 14:50
  doing?
• 14:51
  Yeah, so that's a good question because I think especially in when you think about professional services like accounting consulting, that sort of thing, if you think about the biggest companies in the world, so you know, you have Deloitte,
• 15:04
  kpmg, the biggest accounting brands in the world.
• 15:06
  The reason they, they get clients just on retainer and without any issue is because of their brand.
• 15:12
  Right.
• 15:12
  So and that brand is built over.
• 15:14
  You know, I listen to a lot of Alex Hermosi, so he's always talking about this, I'm sure you know some of his stuff as well.
• 15:20
  But he always talks about brand and the content is.
• 15:25
  Obviously at this point, you know, I want more, more and more clients, but I understand that the content is a long term game and it's kind of like a lead nurture sort of thing that I'm working on.
• 15:33
  Because yeah, it's like I said, you might not get the fastest returns compared to paid advertising or just directly cold outreaching and you know, you could supplement your content with that.
• 15:43
  I think that makes sense as well.
• 15:44
  But it's just about providing value and trust because like I mentioned with especially the professional services, I mean I'm dealing with people's finances and I'm just a random guy, probably not even from their state.
• 15:56
  You know, we work with the customers all over the US So actually understanding that, you know, this is a long term game that I have to build trust with and tick tock, you know, that's probably not the best
• 16:05
  trust building technique, but it's, it's a technique that can help get your name out, build that word of mouth and then actually you can transition those viewers on TikTok into maybe a podcast or YouTube video where it's more
• 16:17
  long form and then they have more face to face interaction with you.
• 16:20
  They actually understand the value that we can bring to clients as well.
• 16:23
  So yeah, to be honest, I was hoping for a faster return like most people, but I understand that that's not the case when it comes to content.
• 16:31
  So I don't know if you, you have something similar when I know you.
• 16:34
  Obviously with the podcast I don't know how your experience was, but that's Kind of where we're at.
• 16:41
  Yeah, well, it's fun and I've talked about this on other, other podcasts I've been on, but I came from the pharma industry where it was traditional B2B selling, so you could get the list, you, you could develop relationships.
• 16:52
  Right.
• 16:52
  And when I got into logistics, selling the e commerce brands, I quickly realized, you know, you can't, it doesn't work like that.
• 17:01
  They have to find you.
• 17:04
  So again, I had to start doing the content stuff.
• 17:06
  We do a lot on LinkedIn and the podcast came shortly after that just to put some quality conversations out.
• 17:13
  And it's been amazing too because it's like a digital handshake where people see you on there, they see you posting videos, they see you interviewing others, see you participating in discussions and giving your, your thoughts and they can
• 17:27
  get to know you before they ever meet you.
• 17:30
  Yeah, exactly.
• 17:32
  You know, I know everyone wants the, the, the overnight success, but that's, it's not the reality.
• 17:39
  Right.
• 17:39
  You have to put in, you have to put the reps in, you have to, you have to look at the, the long term.
• 17:45
  But, but yeah, I, I mean we see it in our industry and I don't know if you can speak to this.
• 17:49
  There's so many, so many companies that operate as faceless, nameless brands.
• 17:55
  So as a founder or co founder, if you can be the face and you can be out there with the content marketing, that's a powerful way to differentiate yourself to people that are maybe are trying to compare.
• 18:09
  Yeah, and I agree, that's for sure because once again, like I mentioned especially, I mean for you as well in the logistics space, but professional services, it's all about that trust and putting a face to the name.
• 18:20
  That's why I think, you know, having, especially if you're an accountant for example, and you're the face, you know, if I, I'm on a tick tock, I'm on a YouTube video and then I'm the same face that people
• 18:31
  who hop on a sales call with or the QuickBooks Online Audit with.
• 18:35
  It just automatically builds that I've gotten value from this guy before.
• 18:38
  He'll probably provide me even more value on this call, for example, or in the future.
• 18:43
  And it's just a long term play.
• 18:44
  So I've learned very quickly that, you know, whenever you try to go short, it's not going to happen.
• 18:49
  The fastest way to growth is the long term way.
• 18:51
  So that's kind of where I'm at in my journey right now.
• 18:57
  Okay.
• 18:57
  Yeah, I Love that.
• 18:58
  Love that.
• 18:58
  All right.
• 18:59
  What would you say, too, because, S and G, you've been around a little bit over a year.
• 19:05
  Is that right?
• 19:06
  Yeah.
• 19:06
  Yeah.
• 19:07
  Okay.
• 19:08
  What would you say has been the biggest surprise that you've.
• 19:11
  You've experienced since you.
• 19:14
  Since you guys have founded this business?
• 19:19
  The biggest surprise.
• 19:20
  Okay, so I'm not gonna lie.
• 19:21
  When Daniel and I, we were very hesitant to start our own bookkeeping firm because of our age.
• 19:28
  So we're in our 20s.
• 19:30
  So, you know, when you think of a traditional accountant, financial service person.
• 19:37
  They'Re, you know, a little bit older, more mature, they have more experience.
• 19:40
  So I'm not even lying.
• 19:42
  Like, we were this close to not starting because we thought that our age was going to be something that deterred clients.
• 19:47
  They're going to see us and they're.
• 19:48
  Who's this knucklehead?
• 19:50
  You think you could take care of my books?
• 19:52
  I want someone with experience.
• 19:53
  Right.
• 19:55
  But the really thing.
• 19:56
  The thing that really surprised me is that that literally hasn't been an issue at all with any of our clients.
• 20:01
  Like, a lot of clients don't even know our age.
• 20:03
  That's the funny part.
• 20:04
  But I think that the point here is that as long as we can, you know, demonstrate ourselves that we're mature, we know what we're talking about, and we can provide value.
• 20:12
  Clients, I'm sure clients look at me and they're like, how old is this guy?
• 20:15
  But they've never asked, and they've never had to ask because the information that I'm able to provide them.
• 20:20
  I sound like I've been in the game for a longer time than I really have.
• 20:23
  And that's because, you know, I'm just.
• 20:25
  I'm an accounting nerd.
• 20:26
  I research, I read the tax code.
• 20:28
  I'm always looking at YouTube videos.
• 20:29
  How can I provide more value to my clients?
• 20:32
  And.
• 20:32
  And I think the value nowadays especially is that's the number one thing.
• 20:37
  I don't know if people care as much about your age.
• 20:39
  It's all about how much value can I provide to them.
• 20:41
  So that's something that has been a pleasant surprise for Daniel and I, and really happy with that.
• 20:47
  Okay.
• 20:47
  Yeah, I love that.
• 20:48
  Right.
• 20:48
  And you hit on a very important topic that we cover a lot on this show, which, I mean, you didn't name it, but you alluded to it, which is imposter syndrome.
• 20:57
  Right.
• 20:57
  So you guys have this idea.
• 20:59
  You have this, you know, this area of we're going to start an accounting firm or bookkeeping firm, and then the imposter syndrome kicks in.
• 21:08
  It's like, well, look at how young you are.
• 21:09
  How's anyone going to trust you?
• 21:11
  They want someone older with experience.
• 21:13
  But the fact that you could just push through that, right, because that's really, it's not like the fear, it's not like any of us can escape those thoughts and those fears.
• 21:21
  That's just the human mind doing what it does.
• 21:23
  But the fact that you experience that and you push forward anyway, you started and then you realized, hey, it's not about my age, it's about the value I provide, it's about the work that I do.
• 21:35
  And then you realized that that's, that's the what really matters.
• 21:40
  You know, that's just that that's a testament to, to being an entrepreneur because we see that so often where so many people buy into the imposter syndrome.
• 21:51
  They let it stop them from pursuing their goals and their dreams of what they want to do and then they wind up in a space where they're not happy.
• 21:57
  So the fact that you push through that at such a young age and, and you're, you're reaping the benefits now with this growing company is, is fantastic.
• 22:05
  So yeah, kudos to that.
• 22:10
  Okay, so with another thing, let's just talk about the accounting space because I mean one thing that I've heard, and maybe you can speak to this as another opportunity, is that, you know, there's that next generation of accountants,
• 22:25
  they're not becoming accountants.
• 22:27
  Like there's a real shortage of accounting professionals out there because so many of the older are retiring and the new, the new, the new generation is not that excited.
• 22:36
  There's not that many accounting nerds out there that are going to just spend their time researching the tax code and into it.
• 22:42
  I mean can, have you seen that in terms of your business and since you've been operating?
• 22:50
  I don't know if I've seen it specifically in my business.
• 22:53
  What I will say is a lot of the, this is part of my business, but a lot of people, not even in the E commerce space in general, but just business owners, small business owners, especially medium sized business
• 23:03
  owners, that's kind of the, the group that I interact with the most.
• 23:07
  But even there, I mean I'm getting, we're on Google Business Profile Pro Advisor and I'm getting people that aren't even E commerce owners, they're just reaching out saying yeah, I have this accountant, but they, they overstated my bank
• 23:18
  balance by a hundred thousand dollars last year.
• 23:20
  I'm not, that's actually literally, I Just had a call like that, and I looked at her books.
• 23:23
  I was like, this is pretty insane how you mess up that bad.
• 23:27
  But, yeah, I think.
• 23:28
  I don't know if I read the exact.
• 23:30
  I don't know where I read it from, but I think in the US there's about a $400,000 or 400,000 accountants shortage in the US so there's 400,000 less accountants than there really should be to fulfill all the roles
• 23:43
  and responsibilities that companies throughout the US Have.
• 23:45
  And also, I think there was a statistic I read pretty recently where 40 to 50% of the CPAs currently active in the US are going to be retiring in the next 10 years.
• 23:54
  And that is also something that gets me really excited because all those clients, they're still going to need accounting.
• 23:59
  They're still going to need tax bookkeeping.
• 24:01
  So that's a great opportunity for me to kind of swoop in there, you know, get more experience and then build more trust and value and take over clients in the future.
• 24:10
  So I haven't.
• 24:12
  In terms of our business, it's mostly been people just looking for accountants, because I guess there's either a shortage or they're not that good.
• 24:20
  So that's.
• 24:20
  Those are the two main reasons that I've.
• 24:22
  I've talked to clients, and they've been reaching out to us.
• 24:25
  So that's how I've been able to see this.
• 24:30
  Okay.
• 24:30
  All right.
• 24:31
  And so with.
• 24:33
  With where you're at now, so you've made it through the first year, you're continuing to grow, you've learned a ton.
• 24:38
  You're active with the content marketing.
• 24:41
  You're very kind of open and honest about your journey.
• 24:44
  Right.
• 24:44
  Which is.
• 24:45
  Which is great.
• 24:46
  Right.
• 24:46
  People really appreciate that.
• 24:47
  So what's next for.
• 24:50
  For you and Daniel as you.
• 24:51
  You continue to scale this company?
• 24:53
  Yeah.
• 24:54
  So what's next for us is.
• 24:56
  I mean, this is something that we've been thinking about a lot.
• 24:58
  And, you know, I don't want to say this, but the.
• 25:01
  When you think about bookkeeping in terms of accounting, it's kind of on the lower end of the services that most people provide, because I'm not going to lie, I talk to business owners, and they ask me what a
• 25:10
  bookkeeper is.
• 25:11
  They literally asked me if I work at a library, and I told them, no, I work in QuickBooks Online.
• 25:15
  Like, I take care of your books once a month.
• 25:17
  I'm not even kidding.
• 25:18
  People actually ask me that.
• 25:21
  Yeah.
• 25:21
  So.
• 25:22
  But I have to explain to them.
• 25:23
  Yeah, I do.
• 25:24
  I mean, QuickBooks Online, I'm considered an accountant.
• 25:27
  But the, the perception that people have of an accountant is literally someone that just does their taxes.
• 25:33
  That's basically it because for most people, accounting is just taxes.
• 25:36
  Right.
• 25:37
  But when you get a little bit deeper into it, there's other parts, like bookkeeping.
• 25:41
  So a couple of my mentors that I talked to, they say, yeah, bookkeeping is a great foundation for you guys, but in the future, I mean, that's also.
• 25:48
  We have our full time jobs in tax.
• 25:50
  So once we get more experience with that, what's next for us is going to be the tax consulting and compliance side of things.
• 25:56
  Because that's, I mean, I, that's where the money's at.
• 25:59
  If you can get a client on retainer for tax consulting, monthly tax consulting, or even quarterly, people pay a lot of money because taxes are, I'm sure, you know, but taxes are one of the biggest expenses that business
• 26:10
  owners and most people in general have to face.
• 26:12
  So being able to mitigate some of that, that's where the money is really at.
• 26:16
  So that's kind of what's next for us.
• 26:20
  Okay, and one more great point you hit on.
• 26:22
  So you, you mentioned something that you learned from, from one of your mentors.
• 26:26
  Can you just talk about how important a mentor has been to your entrepreneurial journey?
• 26:33
  Yeah, for sure.
• 26:33
  I actually have a couple that I'm relatively close with and I think the mentor is probably one of the most important parts because when you're starting out, it's all a volume game.
• 26:46
  You know, I'm gonna try this, this, this and see what works.
• 26:48
  Right.
• 26:49
  But where the mentor really comes in for us is helping us avoid all those problem A, B, C, D and so on.
• 26:57
  We don't have to go through the, the path of trying to figure that out and seeing that it doesn't work.
• 27:01
  We can basically just take a little bit of a leapfrog, a little bit of a head start where they say, listen, I've already tried this.
• 27:07
  I've been in the game for 10 years.
• 27:09
  I tried exactly what you're trying right now and that didn't work.
• 27:12
  So I recommend that what works for me is this, and we could basically skip all that mess.
• 27:17
  You know, obviously there's some, a lot of value in going through the, like we mentioned, going through the hardships and the struggles by yourself to learn those lessons.
• 27:23
  But if I could have my mentor learn the lesson on my behalf so I don't have to, I'll, I'll also take that any day of the week.
• 27:29
  Right.
• 27:30
  So that's Kind of the importance of mentors for our business.
• 27:34
  Love that.
• 27:35
  Okay.
• 27:36
  And Arthur, if other people are hearing this, like in the e commerce space and they need help with their books or they just want to learn more about what you do in general, what's the best way that people
• 27:45
  could reach out to you?
• 27:47
  Yeah, so our website is just smg bookkeeping.com so s a n dg bookkeeping.com and on there I, I created a free monthly bookkeeping checklist that you can download once again for free and use that in your own business.
• 28:00
  If you have your own e commerce brand and you're trying to, you're not ready to off offload your workload yet.
• 28:06
  You want to keep the books under your control, you can use that.
• 28:08
  And then on the website, we also have our QuickBooks online free audit where I'll just sit down with you, break down your books completely for free.
• 28:15
  But if that's.
• 28:17
  You want to see some more content as well, I'm just Arthur Lincoln on YouTube and Tik Tok for now.
• 28:21
  So getting more into the content marketing side of things.
• 28:24
  So providing value up front.
• 28:26
  So that's where you can find me for the most part.
• 28:30
  All right, well, we'll link all that in the show notes for everyone as well.
• 28:34
  So, Arthur, okay, thank you so much for being here, taking the time to share all this valuable wisdom from your journey with our listeners.
• 28:40
  We greatly appreciate it.
• 28:42
  Yeah, absolutely.
• 28:42
  Thanks for having me.